Cremona what to see in the art city in Lombardy famous in the world for the torrone.
Cremona is famous in the world as city of brown. To fully understand what it represents for the municipality in Lombardy the sweet delicacy based on egg, honey, sugar and almonds, on Sunday I went to Festa del Torrone. In addition to making a memorable scoop of peat and crispy, I discovered a very sweet city, in all senses. In fact, it was an opportunity to visit one of the most fascinating art cities of the Po Valley, with a historic center that preserves the characteristic medieval plant, a theatre of most events.
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Festa del Torrone di Cremona
Until November 24 you are still in time to visit the Torrone Festival. Nine days in which Cremona becomes the capital of sweetness, all to be enjoyed in the forms and tastes of the sweet creamy par excellence, but also to live in the many initiatives, events and shows that animate the center.
The complete program here
In homage to Leonardo Da Vinci, 500 years after death, this edition is under the banner of Genius and Creativity. And decidedly creative was the interpretation of "La Gioconda con la torroncino" made by artists who created a huge infiorata of about 100 square meters that on Sunday decorated Piazza Pace. The work was the pop revisitation of the Monna Lisa in the act of identifying a torrone: a gesture that inevitably, sooner or later, all visitors of the event perform.
That is why we come to the Festa del Torrone in Cremona: dive into the treachery of sweetness, aromas and flavors of the best torroni and crunchy artisans of all Italy. Yes, because among the crowded stands piazza Stradivari, in addition to the large and small companies of the territory, there are also producers from Sicily, Calabria, Campania, Marche, Piemonte, Lombardy, Veneto, Puglia and Sardinia, each with its own specialties.
History of Torrone di Cremona
According to the local tradition, the turkey is still a cremonese invention, with a precise date of birth: 25 October 1441, wedding day between Bianca Maria Visconti and Francesco Sforza. For the wedding banquet was prepared a sweet with sublime taste, egg white dough, honey, sugar and almonds, to which was given the shape of the Torrazzo, the bell tower of the Cathedral of Cremona, from which would derive the name torrone.
The reenactment of that historic event, which takes place on Sunday afternoon, is one of the most exciting moments of the Torrone Festival. Truly spectacular is the sumptuous procession of 150 characters in Renaissance dresses that parade through the streets of the center, between sounds of trumpets, drum rollers and performances of flags, until you reach the Piazza del Comune, where you celebrate the most famous wedding in the history of Cremona.
Cremona what to see
Piazza del Comune
The heart of the historic center, Piazza del Comune has a harmony and elegance that place it right among the most beautiful in Italy and contains in its perimeter some of the most representative buildings of the city. On the one hand the monumental religious complex of medieval times, consisting of the Duomo, the Baptistery and the Torrazzo, the bell tower symbol of Cremona, which with its 112 meters is among the highest in Italy and holds one of the largest astronomical clocks in the world.
On the opposite side of the square is the Palazzo Comunale with its characteristic red brick facade. With the neighbouring Loggia dei Militi, built in 1292 by the Society of the Milites that united the most eminent citizens, it has been the political power of the citizen for centuries.
Cathedral of Cremona
Arriving in Piazza del Comune, the look is magnetized by the wonderful Cathedral, which for the architecture and works of art that it holds inside is the most important monument of Cremona. The original building dates back to the 12th century, but it was repeatedly restored with the subsequent addition of the splendid white marble façade of Carrara and red marble of Verona, decorated with a rose window and a loggia with the statues of the Virgin flanked by Sant’Imerio and Sant’Omobono, protectors of the city.
The interior leaves breathless for the magnificence of the frescoes that cover the walls of the central aisle, to which they contributed the major artists of Lombard school of the sixteenth century, so much so that the "Sistine Chapel of Northern Italy" was deservedly defined. The works of Boccaccino are the great Redeemer among the Saints Marcellin, Imerio, Omobono and Pietro exorcista on the apse catino and part of the pictorial cycles of the Stories of the Virgin and the Stories of the Passion of Christ that retrace on the walls, completed with interventions of the Romanesque, Giovanni Francesco Bembo and Pordenone. The latter also owes the majestic Crucifixion on the counterfaceted.
But wonders don't end here. Also to see the Great Cross, a masterpiece of high gold and silver jewellery created in the '400 by local goldsmiths. Covered in a glass case, it measures about 3 meters and consists of over a thousand pieces between statues and busts of saints of various sizes, some really tiny. Then it is worth descending into the crypt to admire, among various finds, the valuable Arca dei Santi Marcellino and Pietro.
Palazzo Comunale di Cremona
Although the original structure dates back to the '200, the Municipal Palace of Cremona that we see today is the fruit of numerous modifications made over time to make the building more functional that for centuries has been uninterruptedly the seat of the city government. The solemn staircase of honor allows you to directly access the noble floor, where there are the halls of representation open to the public, rich in furnishings, finds, frescoes and works of art related to the city history.
A place of great suggestion, to visit as a museum, focusing on the magnificent 16th century marble fireplace inlaid in the Hall of the Junta, on the huge canvases in the Salone dei Quadri, on the frescoes of the end of the '200 of the Sala degli Alabardieri and, dulcis in fundo, on the amazing panorama that from the windows of the Sala della Consulta embraces the square with the Cathedral, the Torrazzo and the Baptistery.
The wow effect! is guaranteed.
